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Paradise Lost
"Paradise Lost" is the 10th and 11th episodes of Justice League. It first aired on January 21 and 28, 2002. Plot Part I A tropical storm blows in Beach City and a fire truck is hit by a wayward stop sign. Diana aids Superman in rescuing the drivers then the truck. They then notice a young girl trapped up in a tree. Diana rescues her and takes her to her mother. After seeing the way that the girl's mother reacts to her daughter Diana begins to get homesick and reminisces about her mother. Under Superman's encouragement Diana decides that she has been away from Themyscira for too long and needs to return. She travels back to the island, and finds that the island is in ruins and all her Amazon sisters have been turned to stone. Frantically she searches for her mother, Hippolyta only to find that she too has been turned to stone. A sorcerer Felix Faust, approaches her. Diana confronts him and after a brief fight she takes him down but he tells her if she hurts him he'll leave the amazons the way they are. He claims that he only seeks knowledge but confesses that he is the one who attacked Paradise Island and turned the amazons to stone. He goes on to explain that he is looking for pieces of an artifact. He then restores Hippolyta to her normal self but turns her back to stone when she attacks. Faust blackmails Diana into gathering the artifacts. He claims that if she brings the artifacts to him, he will restore the Amazons. Believing she has no other choice, Diana agrees. He gives her a limited amount of time and mystic gems that glow when near the artifacts. Diana then leaves. While Diana pursues the artifacts, Faust is seen speaking to an impatient someone through a floating flame. As Felix reports, he explains that Hippolyta's daughter is helping him. Diana calls Batman for help learning about Faust but won't say anything else. Diana searches for the first artifact in a museum. Obtaining the artifact is easy enough until a giant stone statue of a gladiator comes to life and attacks. After a brief fight Diana comes out the victor but the museum is left in ruins. She is confronted by Superman who insists that if Diana is going to be destroying public property she should have a good reason. She reluctantly explains the situation to him, and he, along with Flash, J'onn, and Batman volunteer to help. Flash and J'onn go to collect one of the artifacts. Flash manages to snatch the artifact from a temple but a giant fire-breathing snake rises from the ground and attacks. J'onn and Flash deal with the snake and with J'onn's strength there is little trouble defeating it. Superman and Diana find the other artifact buried underneath a mall but as soon as they touch it, the artifact flashes and they see each other as demons. Both believing the other to be a threat, they fight but Superman eventually sees Diana in their reflection and realizes who she is. Now Superman only defends himself and doesn't fight back. With Superman refusing to fight, Diana incapacitates him. Fortunately, they're near mirrors and Superman is able to show her their reflection revealing his true form to Diana and ending the fight. Back on Themyscira, Faust talks to his unknown benefactor and the two are confident that the world will soon be theirs. Part II After Diana apologizes to Superman for her misunderstanding behavior, Batman researches Faust's background, and finds that he was a respected professor of archaeology, until he lost his position for dabbling in black magic and having heretical ideas. Faust had gained his revenge on the people who fired him. Batman continues to say that he read Faust's' diary and saw a reference to Tartarus. Diana realizes that Faust is working under the direction of Hades, the lord of the underworld, Tartarus. She explains that her mother had a brief affair with the god before he was banished for betraying the gods to the Titans. The gate to Tartarus is located beneath Themyscira, and the artifacts form a key that will open it. Despite this information, Diana insists that she has no choice but to give Faust the key in order to free her mother and sisters. After she delivers the key, Faust attempts to betray Diana and holds out his medallion to turn her to stone. The Flash snatches the medallion away from Faust and the three other League members reveal themselves. Faust attacks them but at first it seems that the Leaguers will win. However, Faust proves to be a more formidable opponent than first thought and captures the league in thorny vines. He then kidnaps Hippolyta and chains her out in front of the gate as it is opened. Hades appears, and Faust demands what Hades promised him in return for his help: ultimate knowledge. Smiling, Hades touches Faust, who begins to age rapidly and scream in terrible pain. Hades explains, "ultimately, pain and suffering are all man will ever know". Wonder Woman and the League appear, freeing Hippolyta and fighting against Hades with very limited success. Easily brushing off even Superman's blows, Hades uses his magic to summon an army of skeletons to battle the heroes. The skeletons are no match for the heroes but they are so great in number that they are too much of a distraction for the heroes to take on Hades. Fortunately, Faust awakens and angered by the betrayal he attacks Hades. Hades changes into a beast-like form and is attacked by Hippolyta but he catches her. Still, while he deals with Hippolyta by a slim margin, Diana manages to destroy the key, causing the gate to close and suck Hades and his minions, including Faust, back to Tartarus. Hades attempts to drag Hippolyta with him, but Diana is able to pull her mother free before the gates close. Unfortunately, the amazons are still trapped as stone. However, Flash pulls out the medallion and once it's touched by sunlight it is destroyed and the spell is broken. The victory turns out to be bittersweet. Hippolyta honors Superman, J'onn, Flash, and Batman for their help, naming them "heroes of Themyscira". However, because Diana broke the sacred law by bringing outsiders to the island, Hippolyta has no choice but to exile Diana from Themyscira. Though shaken by her mother's decree, Diana accepts her ruling and departs from Themyscira with the other League members. Despite the decree, the Amazons did a present arms as a sign of respect for her and the League. Cast Uncredited appearances * Antiope * Phillipus Home Video releases *Justice League - Paradise Lost (VHS) *Justice League - Paradise Lost (DVD) *Justice League Collection (DVD 3-Pack) *Justice League Triple Feature (DVD) *Justice League - Season One (DVD) *Justice League - The Complete Series (DVD) *Wonder Woman (DVD) (2DVD, Blu-ray only) *Justice League - Season One (Blu-ray) Development Transcript Gallery Trivia Continuity *Diana prepares to explain her long absence from Themyscira, after leaving, approximately eight months earlier, to fight the Imperium invasion in "Secret Origins". *Diana's exile from Themyscira does not end until the Justice League Unlimited episode "The Balance". *The revelation of Hippolyta's affair with Hades is also expanded on later in "The Balance", revealing that before the affair ended, Hades sculpted Diana from clay along with Hippolyta, though life was not breathed into Diana until after his banishment. Notes *The title refers to "Paradise Lost", the famous poem by John Milton, chronicling Lucifer's banishment to Hell and referencing how this depiction of Hades bears more resemblance to the Christian Devil than to how Hades was portrayed in classical Greek Mythology. It also references that Paradise Island, Themyscira, is "lost" to Wonder Woman. *John Stewart and Hawkgirl do not appear. *The name of the newsstand that gets destroyed by Hurricane Gardner in the teaser is called "Bernie's News". This is presumably a reference to the Watchmen maxi-series, which features a newsstand with the same name. *"Hurricane Gardner" is presumably a nod to Gardner Fox, a long-time writer for Justice League comics. *This is the third time John Rhys-Davies has played a god. He played Thor, God of Thunder for the Marvel shows The Incredible Hulk and The Fantastic Four, and he also played Zeus in Goddess of Love. *The little blond girl (Cassie) who Wonder Woman saved in the teaser is presumably a reference to Cassie Sandsmark, a girl from the Wonder Woman comics who went on to become the second "Wonder Girl". The line about them not being sisters may be an in-joke to the fact that none of the "Wonder Girls" have ever been Wonder Woman's full sisters, but rather empathic ones. *The battle between the League and Faust in the temple uses a remixed version of the music played during Superman's fight with the mysterious creature from the Phantom Zone in "Blasts From the Past". Errors Cultural References Episode Connections Production Notes *When the Flash is dodging Faust's bolts, we can see reused footage of the Superman: The Animated Series episode "Speed Demons", more precisely the scene where the Flash jumps out of the underground tunnel and runs at the Weather Wizard. Production inconsistencies *Diana's story about how Hades gained control of the underworld and offering to deliver Olympus to the Titans is highly inconsistent with true mythology. In true mythology, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus drew lots to see which realm they would rule and Hades got the short stick. Furthermore, the Titans lived on Mount Olympus before the Gods. It was the Gods that sought to overthrow the Titans not the other way around. *J'onn J'onzz easily phases through Faust's energy bolts but not through the plant-tentacles. *In Part I, Wonder Woman enters the Athena Temple room from behind the throne, but in Part II she enters through a previously unseen glass doors in the entrance. *When Hippolyta is exiling Diana, Diana's bracelets change from silver to gold. *After defeating Hades, as the League walks down the stairs of the temple, there is a statue of J'onn J'onzz among the petrified Amazons. *In the end, the Flash puts on his golden leaf half-crown backward, but in the next clear shot of him it is on the right way. *When Hades first appears, he wears a horned helmet. However, soon after he takes it off, it is never seen again. *During her fight with the first guardian, Wonder Woman reaches for her lasso on her right hip and fails to get it. However, it's clearly seen on her left hip. *In part II, for most of the fight, Hippolyta's sword is in her left hand and her shield in right, though in several shots, the weapon and shield are switched. References Category:Justice League Category:Justice League episodes Category:DC Comics Category:DC animated universe Category:DC animated universe episodes Category:Television episodes Category:Multi-part episodes